Ashes

Trees may not grow well in the Aftertime, but there will still be trees to burn. A slow burning of wood (for heat and cooking) does not completely deplete the minerals in wood. The ashes from those trees will contain some (if not all) of those minerals we seek. That's why I use a fertilizer that is mostly wood ash.

It may not have selenium and other desirable trace elements, but there is a web site for an analysis of various wood ashes. Just select which variety of Tree Ash, Wheat/Straw Ash, or Corn Stalk Ash. This is a fairly extensive analysis of many ashes. Sort of substantiates my claims of the nature of left over nutrients in ashes. The difficulty remains in aquiring a natural substitute for blood and bone meal.

Offered by Roger.

After the pole shift, to burn wood to make ashes to make fertilizer may not be efficient. It oxidizes most of the trace minerals and they go up in the smoke. If one needs a fire and has the wood to burn then this is another story. For most of us I think precomposting the wood back to nutrients should be a more efficient way to retrieve the minerals.

Offered by Mike.